Mani Pavuluri, MD, PhD

Berger-Colbeth Chair in Child Psychiatry Professor in Psychiatry

Mani Pavuluri is MD PhD, Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Berger-Colbeth Chair in Child Psychiatry, and the Founding Director of the Pediatric Mood Disorders Program and the Pediatric Brain Research And InterventioN (BRAIN) Center.

Dr. Pavuluri is trained as a Psychiatrist and Child Psychiatrist at Otago University Medical School in New Zealand, Royal Children’s Hospital at Melbourne University in Australia and the Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. She additionally completed American training in Child Fellowship at Rush University, Chicago.

Dr. Pavuluri is a member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and has received many awards that include the prestigious Klingenstein Third Generation Award from AACAP for the best paper in mood disorders in 2009 and Gerry Klerman Award for outstanding research in 2010 from Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (NARSAD). She is the Founding Director of the now nationally recognized Pediatric Mood Disorders Clinic that grew into the Pediatric BRAIN Center at UIC. The program has drawn patients from 29 states to-date and has helped set up many programs across the world. She serves on the editorial Board of several top journals and published widely. She has been funded by several granting agencies that include the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), NARSAD, Dana Foundation, Marshall Reynolds Foundation, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and her grateful families (one of which is the endowed chair). She is listed under Top Psychiatrists in America, selected by patients, and Best Doctors of America, selected by peers since 2004. Dr. Pavuluri received the Jay Hirsch Excellence in Teaching Award from the Child Psychiatry Fellows at UIC in 2014.

Her goal is to understand brain mechanisms in order to develop molecular and brain biosignatures of pediatric mood disorders and unravel how treatments can reverse brain dysfunction, working towards personalized interventions. She is also working on suicide prevention and understanding the domain dysfunction at neurocognitive level, across child psychiatric illnesses. Dr. Pavuluri’s work is the foremost among the cohort of studies mapping the interfacing affective and cognitive brain circuits. Her book What Works for Bipolar Kids: Help and Hope for Parents draws on her 25+ years of experience treating children and adolescents with bipolar disorder.

Affiliations/Memberships:

Member: American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP)

Research Work Group of AACAP

Editorial Board of JAACAP

Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation Parent Advisory Council

Interests:

Dr. Pavuluri has obtained several grants, one of which is a K23 award from NIH looking at fMRI outcome pre- and post-clinical trial in pediatric bipolar disorder, followed by RO1 from NIMH in looking at the affects of lithium on brain function.

Her main area of interest is mapping brain circuits involved in emotion regulation and cognitive function and how they interact and influence daily life in pediatric bipolar patients. Inherent to this question is to understand how development and medications influence brain function.

Projects:

Pediatric Bipolar Disorder: Randomized Controlled Trial of Risperidone vs Divalproex Sodium and fMRI Assessment of Relevant Affective Circuitry Pre and Post Treatment (collaborative efforts on projects listed below are built into professional and career development strategies intrinsic to this effort) There are two purposes for this project: 1) to determine whether risperidone is better than divalproex sodium in treating/stabilizing pediatric bipolar disorder. 2) to look at the dysfunction in brain activity before treatment, and to look for any alteration after treatment with either risperidone or divalproex sodium.

Collaborative Lithium Trials (COLT): Pharmacokinetic trial followed by acute, discontinuation and follow up trials; Multi site grant PI: Dr. R. Findling. This is a multiphase, multicenter, trial that will comprehensively examine lithium in the treatment of pediatric patients with bipolar I disorder. Dr. Pavuluri is the Site PI.

fMRI and Neurocognitive Effects, Safety and Efficacy of Lamotrigine in Pediatric Bipolar Disorder (Investigator initiated study)The aim of the study is to understand the treatment effects of lamotrigine on neurocognitive function and the affective and cognitive circuitry interface in Pediatric Bipolar Disorder.

fMRI Study of Brain Circuitry Underlying Impulsivity and Affect Regulation in Suicidal Patients with Adolescent Bipolar DisorderThe goal of the study is to map the brain circuitry in high risk patients with adolescent bipolar disorder to unravel the two most important factors of impulsivity and negative emotion regulation that are known to lead to completed suicide.

Connectivity between White and Gray Matter Abnormalities in Pediatric Bipolar Disorder: A Developmental Model of Brain Pathophysiology The goal of the study is to characterize cognitive and affective circuitry dysfunction in order to delineate the pathophysiology of PBD using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology.

Affective Neuroscience of Pediatric Bipolar DisorderThe aim of this study is to enhance understanding of brain system dysfunction in pediatric bipolar disorder using fMRI and neurocognitive studies in an integrated approach.